Gmail is supported by ads. That means it isn't free. So, why do they get away with having so much downtime? I'm willing to give up the illusion of privacy to use this outstanding service, but only if it works. And lately, it seems to work less and less. Combine that with an increase in spam, and it feels a little like what happened to Hotmail so many years ago.

I'm not a Google-hater, but I am concerned that a company previously known for transparency seems to be doing, and saying, nothing about recent problems with services like Gmail and Blogger.